Rock ‘n’ Roll Pioneer Roy Orbison Dies

HENDERSONVILLE, Tenn. —  Roy Orbison, a balladeer of lost love whose piercing, three-octave voice in songs like “Pretty Woman” and “Cryin’ ” pioneered early rock ‘n’ roll, died of a heart attack at 52.

The singer-songwriter, known for his black pompadour and ever-present sunglasses, was brought by ambulance to Hendersonville Hospital late Tuesday and died just before midnight.

Orbison achieved fame more than two decades ago with the hits “Only the Lonely,” his first million-seller, then “Blue Angel” and “I’m Hurtin’.” “Pretty Woman,” in 1964, sold more than 7 million copies.

At his death, he was again on the charts, at No. 45, with the single “Handle With Care,” a collaboration with artists including Bob Dylan, George Harrison and Tom Petty. Their album, recorded under the name The Traveling Wilburys, is No. 8.

Orbison, who played guitar, gave a concert Sunday in Akron, Ohio, before 2,000 people. On Tuesday, Orbison was at the Nashville-area home of country singer Jean Shepard, who said he had been with her husband, “having a great time.”

During his heyday in the early 1960s, Orbison had 27 straight records on the charts. In May, 1963, he toured Britain with the Beatles, then a smash in England but still virtually unknown in the United States.

In 1977, Elvis Presley introduced him as “the greatest singer in the world.” Bruce Springsteen saluted him in his song “Thunder Road.”

Orbison grew up in Wink, Tex., and was taught to play guitar at age 6 by his father, an oil field worker. He played guitar on a radio station at 8 and was in a country music band by 14.

He was one of the first “rockabilly” singers--a hybrid of rock ‘n’ roll and hillbilly music, as country music was known then.

His career plummeted in the late 1960s in the aftermath of two personal tragedies. His first wife died in a motorcycle accident in 1966. Two of his three sons, ages 10 and 6, died in a fire that destroyed his home in 1968.